VRE aims to open Spotsylvania station before 2014

WASHINGTON – Thousands of passengers drive from Spotsylvania County to the Fredericksburg Virginia Railway Express (VRE) station each weekday morning to take the train to work in Northern Virginia or Washington, D.C.

But VRE officials are hoping a new Spotsylvania station will entice commuters not to clog the Fredericksburg station anymore.

“We have about 900 or so parking spaces at Fredericksburg,” says VRE spokesman Mark Roeber. “The parking facility has been filled consistently for the last three or four years. This station will allow us to free up the burden on the Fredericksburg station.”

Most of the parking spaces at the Fredericksburg station are filled up early in the morning, leaving many commuters scrambling to find a place to park.

The work will extend the Fredericksburg line about eight miles south of its current end station to a station located by Route 17, near Exit 126 on I-95 for Massaponax.

“Our work includes adding a four-mile stretch of third track being installed, signal work, another crossover and a platform and station house built,” says Roeber.

Contracts have been awarded and work is underway to get the station built and open before the end of the year.

Spotsylvania officials say the parking lot will be built with 1000 to 1500 spaces.

“We have an aggressive build schedule,” says Roeber. “We’re hopeful to open December 2013 or January 2014 for passengers. We needed to grow the system and allow more riders into the network.”